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Match Preview: Germany VS Denmark

Following Denmark´s remarkable first day victory over Holland and the dreams of following in the footsteps of their 1992 campaign, they suddenly came crashing back to earth after losing 1-0 to the Portuguese meaning that they need at least a point against the formidable Germans to guarantee qualification .The Germans on the other hand have been relentlessly German and having beaten both Portugal and Holland now only need to beat the underdogs of the group to seal three straight victories and top the group.

Denmark will again look back to their 1992 campaign for inspiration ,where they beat the Germans in the final to clinch the title. Although they lack the inspiration of a Brian Laudrup or the influence of a Peter Schmeichel, they do have two players who could step up to the plate and who have already shown glimpses of brilliance during the tournament. In Christian Erikson they have one of the brightest talents in world football who seems undisturbed by the pressure exerted on him by his country and seems to be the player they have lacked since the era of the Laudrup brothers, whilst in Daniel Agger they have a player who is both calm on the ball as well as dominant in defence; when uninjured, Agger can claim to be one of the world’s best central defenders. With these two players on board, Denmark could cause an upset against the Germans, however we will need to see a consistently solid performance from every single member of the Danish team for them to gain even a point.

Joachim Low is not prepared to do any favours for the Danes, or indeed for either of the other two remaining teams in the group. The Germans, as we know, will continue to play according to their game-plan and their game-plan is to win.

“It’s not our ambition to help another team. The only thing that interests us is that we make it to the next round and finish first in the group. Which other team makes it doesn’t matter,”

It is expected that the Germans will line up in a very similar way to the game against the Dutch, with Gomez starting up top as a lone striker with Ozil, Muller and either Podolski or Kroos just behind the striker. The rest of the team is expected to be the same, although Jerome Boateng is out through suspension. The Germans have started gathering momentum so it does not look pretty for the Danes.

It will once again be up to the them to defy the football logic, if they do succeed it could be their most famous victory since 1992, it is a big ask of them, yet who is one to defy the viking spirit, watch this space…..